Zenith

ICT4D Week 2018

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has authorized the
bulk transfer of Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) names from Dynamic Dolphin Incorporated
to BigRock Solutions Limited, due to compliance actions taken by ICANN which
resulted in the de-accreditation of Dynamic Dolphin Inc, reports ITRealms.

The
affected gTLD registries, ITRealms
learnt have processed the bulk transfers as directed by ICANN.

ITRealms reports that former registrant-customers
of Dynamic Dolphin Inc. should receive notices from BigRock Solutions Ltd. Advising
them of the transfer.

“Customer
questions about the transfer should be directed to BigRock Solutions Ltd,” confirmed the Global
Director for Media, Mr. Brad White.

He
further explained that why these
transfers were authorized by ICANN, saying that the Registrar
Accreditation Agreement (RAA) of Dynamic Dolphin Inc. was terminated for failure
by the registrar to comply with its RAA. Stressing that Dynamic Dolphin Inc.'s
RAA was terminated effective 20 December 2013 and the termination notice was
posted on ICANN website.

“As
a result, Dynamic Dolphin Inc. is no longer permitted to register or manage
gTLD registrations. ICANN authorized bulk transfers pursuant to the
Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy to ensure that the registrant-customers of this
registrar would not be harmed by their registrar's discontinued ability to
manage the registrations,” he said.

On the other hand, he
enlightened on how the gaining registrar was selected, saying that ICANN followed its De-Accredited
Registrar Transition Procedure to identify a gaining registrar for the
gTLD names formerly managed by the de-accredited registrar. Through this
process, BigRock Solutions Ltd was identified.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Pix: ICANN CEO, Fade

Monday, December 23, 2013

Celebrated
fastest growing telecommunications services company, Etisalat Nigeria, has
given the names of the winners of its inaugural edition of the Etisalat Prize
for Literature, ITRealms reports.

The
Prize launched in June 2013, ITRealms gathered is the first pan-African prize that is open solely
to debut fiction writers of African citizenship and poised to become one of
Africa’s most prestigious literary prizes for African fiction.

The longlist made available to ITRealms in
alphabetical order includes Bom boy by Yewande
Omotoso, Daughters Who Walk This Path
by Yejide Kilanko, Finding Soutbek by Karen Jennings, SarahHouse by Ifeanyi Ajaegbo,
The Great Agony And Pure Laughter Of The Gods by Jamala Safari’s, The Spider King's Daughter by Chibundu
Onuzo, The Spiral House by Claire
Robertson, The Whispering Trees by Abubakar
Adam Ibrahim, and We Need New Names byNoViolet Bulawayo,

The
judges for the maiden edition of the Etisalat Prize for Literature included Chair
of Judges, Professor Pumla Dineo Gqola; Professor at the University of Witwaterstrand,
South Africa; writer and academic Sarah Ladipo Manyika and Managing Editor of
Kwani Trust, Billy Kahora.

The
judges as gathered by ITRealms, received entries from across the continent and were faced
with the daunting task of selecting the nine books to cross the first hurdle.

For
Pumla Dineo Gqola, he had never been more in love with the range, depth and
wonder that is literature, by writers in this continent.

“There
are some writers that I feel really privileged to have discovered through this
Prize," he said.

Also
speaking, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr Matthew
Willsher, said that the list is unique in several respects and would go a long
way in helping to accomplish the purpose of the Etisalat Prize for Literature.

“The
list of nominees is unique in that six of the nine finalists are books authored
by women; five of the nine finalists are Nigerian citizens while the global
perspective is covered by the fact that three of the nine publishers are
non-African,” he said.

The judges will be faced with the next task of
selecting a short list of three novels at a retreat in Morocco in January. The
shortlisted writers who will have 1,000 copies of their books purchased by
Etisalat and go on a multi-city sponsored tour will be announced on Wednesday
the 15th of January 2014.

The overall winner of the Etisalat Prize for
Literature will receive £15,000, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück and will attend an Etisalat sponsored
fellowship at the prestigious University of East Anglia, mentored by Professor
Giles Foden, author of the Last King of Scotland.

Monday, December 16, 2013

President
of the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), a stakeholder member of NiRA, Engr. Bayo
George Banjo has said it that electronic business, also known as e-Business
accelerates economic growth in many countries globally, reports ITRealms.

Addressing
participants at the two-day 2013 e-Business Conference, in Lagos, Banjo said
that with
so many developments in the Nigeria information and communication technology
sector (ICT) sector, Nigeria is set and has already joined the rest of the
world in driving its economy with e-Business.

E-business, he said, is
simply an internet technology driven business which has continued to catalyse
to accelerated economic growth in many countries globally.

Most
significant developments in the sector which include the African mobile phone
personal computers and liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturing plant
set up by RLG, a $10 million factory that will be sited in Osun State, and
would be opened before 2013 closes.

Also
major achievements previously recorded in the sector include the sale of 2.3
GHz spectrum by NCC, re-delegation of .ng TLD, the budding e-payment services,
emerging international fiber cables from MainOne and Globacom to name a few.

These
achievements again are what ignited the strong desire in NIG to organize the
important annual e-business conference 2013 in collaboration with the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC).

This conference examined critical success factors to e-business adoption in Nigeria such as improved broadband penetration, pervasive e-payment services, skilled manpower, appropriate legal and regulatory framework and the political will of government to implement the right policies among others.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

The
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) and Caribbean
Telecommunications Union (CTU) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
to increase cooperation and coordination among both organizations, so as to
increase active engagement by stakeholders from Caribbean region, reports ITRealms.

This
was the outcome of the recently held Caribbean ICT Week, and the MoU was signed
between ICANN president, Mr. Fadi Chehadé and Ms. Bernadette Lewis, Secretary
General, CTU.

ITRealms also reports that the signing
took place in the presence of Government Ministers of CTU member states
including the President of the CTU, Hon. Philip Paulwell, Minister of Science,
Technology, Energy and Mining of Jamaica; the signing ceremony was followed by
a press conference facilitating widespread communication of news of the event
to the Jamaica public, and wider Caribbean through electronic media.

"The Internet has become entwined in the
fabric of our lives therefore we must take an interest in its development and
participate in the fora that chart its course. The continued and equitable
growth of the internet is a collective responsibility and the Caribbean
Telecommunications Union (CTU) is prepared to play its part in taking an active
role in determining the future of the Internet. This MoU is the demonstration
of the CTU's commitment to work in collaboration with ICANN to increasing
awareness and usage of the Internet and its resources in the Caribbean," said Ms. Bernadette Lewis at the signing cerremony.

On
his part, in the spirit of collaboration, Fadi Chehadé ended his remarks by
quoting the African Proverb, which says "If you want to go fast…go alone. If you want to go far…go together."

Mr. Chehadé and Ms. Lewis
committed to make this a workable framework by getting their respective teams
to start implementing concrete actions in the upcoming weeks. Actions are
planned to include capacity building, partnering for outreach events and
fostering multistakeholder dialogue at the regional and national levels.Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

He told ITRealms that CSEdWeek recommends an Hour of Code to spread awareness of Computer Science
Education.

“It is a one-hour introduction to Computer Science, designed
to demystify ‘code’ and show that anyone can learn the basics to be a maker, a
creator, and an innovator,” he declared.

On Saturday, December 14, 2013, he said, Audax is
organizing a free hour of code at the company premises, and is open to
registered attendees between the ages of 6 and 106.

The following week, which is from December 16th to 19th
2013, he said, Audax Code School would be organizing a free but sponsored
Christmas Boot Camp targeted at primary and secondary school students.

“We believe that teaching children programming skills is
essential to developing their problem solving, creative and communication
skills helping to foster an interest in technology that can result in a
profitable and rewarding future career,” he said.

“It will be absolutely free for about 40 enrollees. We hope
to include about 20 participants at the inaugural Code School which held in August
2013,” he declared, urging potential participants to register at the school
web-page.

Additionally, he revealed to ITRealms that there would be a Google Code
in 2013 would run from December 9, 2013 through January 5, 2014.

The
officials of Core Group Africa, have just confirmed to ITRealms that iPad Air is now available
in the Nigerian market.

ITRealms also gathered that iPad Air
comes to town with stunning 9.7-inch Retina display in a new
thinner and lighter design, even as iPad Air is precision-engineered to weigh
just less than 500 grams which makes it 20 per cent thinner and 28 per cent
lighter than the fourth generation iPad.

iPad
Air will be available from 13 December from all Apple authorised resellers for
the starting price of N99 000 Naira.

Core Group Africa’s Director, Rutger-Jan van Spaandonk says they were delighted
to announce the official availability of iPad Air in Nigeria.

“iPad Air is unbelievably
thin and light and we encourage customers to visit their nearest Apple
Authorised Reseller to purchase or experience this life-changing product,” he said.

ITRealms recalls that Core Group Africa
has appointed Apple authorised resellers to sell iPad Air to ensure the product
is available through official channel partners, to ensure customers’ peace of mind that if
repair issues arise during the warranty term, their product will be repaired or
replaced by an Apple Authorised Repair Centre and that they will have access to
the required level of support that is mandatory for Apple Authorised Resellers.

He
further said that iPad Air Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) models would be available
in Nigeria in silver or space grey for the 16GB model, while the 32GB model, for the 64GB model and for the
128GB model.

Additionally,
iPad Air with Wi-Fi+Cellular will be available in silver and space grey for
16GB model, 32GB model respectively. Just as it has the 64GB model and for the
128GB model.

Customers
are reminded that when they purchase iPad Air, they qualify for free
productivity and creativity apps.

Apple have made iWork (Keynote, Pages and
Numbers) and iLife (Garageband, iPhoto and iMove) free with the purchase of any
new iPad. This means that customers will be able to do amazing things with presentations,
documents, spreadsheets, photos, videos and music-all for free. Furthermore,
iPad Air owners will have access to the world’s
number 1 app and music store through iTunes. The iTunes Store gives customers
access to over 475 000 iPad apps, millions of songs and thousands of movies to
personalise their iPad according to their lifestyle.

“We are thrilled to make
this unbelievable product available and ensure that Nigerians can purchase with
the confidence that they purchased through official distribution channels. We
want customers to have the best iPad experience possible and be able to take
advantage of the benefits of purchasing from an Apple Authorised Reseller,”submits Van Spaandonk.

Phone manufacturer,
Nokia, has extended its developers rewards programme to Nigeria and Ghana,
under the aegis of developers, DVLUP.

ITRealms gathered that
DVLUP is a rewards programme for Windows
Phone developers across the globe which enables them to create, book and
manage their own application promotions and also build better apps via
exclusive App Challenges.

Also, DVLUP programme
launched simultaneously in Nigeria and Ghana on Tuesday, ITRealms
reports, is a first from Nokia
that allows developers control promotion of their app by introducing
technologies unique to Nokia devices, and marketing opportunities afforded only
by Nokia rather than depending on most app stores that rely on algorithms
and storeowners to control promotional efforts.

The programme, which
Windows Phone developers can join for free, centers on winning badges, earning
experience points, and leveling up by completing quizzes and challenges related
to app development. By creating high-quality apps, developers can also earn
additional points and “unlock even greater opportunities” such as promoting
their work through the Windows Phone Store, App Social, in-app advertising, as
well as by using print, digital, social and out-of-home media.

Head, Ecosystem
Developer Experience, Nokia West Africa, Emmanuel Oluwatosin, said that the program is line with Nokia’s plan to support
developers across the globe and also get more developers for its Windows Operating
System (OS) based devices.

“We are happy that
this program is finally coming to Nigeria and Ghana, and we believe that this
is a huge and exciting opportunity for developers in both countries to tap
into. This is an opportunity for them to make the most of their talents, build
more locally relevant apps and promote the apps themselves” he said.

He explained that
DVLUP uses gamification techniques
to help developers earn badges and experience points (known as “XP”) that can
then be used for promotion support for their app. In addition, by building
high-quality apps, developers can earn additional points and unlock even
greater opportunity for exposure. This gives developers access to promotion in
the Windows Phone Store and App Social, in-app advertising, print, digital,
social and out-of-home media opportunities.

DVLUP was first launched in
US and Canada in November 2012 as a pilot but is now available in more than
20 countries which includes; Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, Finland, France,
Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Poland, the UK, the US, and Vietnam,
with more countries being added regularly.Nenye Dom/GEE
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The trio of Governors of Akwa Ibom, Ekiti and Lagos States
have been confirmed to grace the forthcoming maiden edition of the Telecom
Stakeholders Summit being organized by the Nigerian Communications Commission
(NCC), reports DigitalSENSE Business News.

Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Summit and
Director, Public Affairs of the Commission, Mr. Tony Ojobo, confirmed to DigitalSENSE Business News that the Governor of Akwa-Ibom State, Obong Godswill
Akpabio would preside over the event, while the Governor Ekiti State, Dr.
Kayode Fayemi would present a keynote. While Governor of Lagos State, Mr.
Babatunde Raji Fashola, is the Host Governor, just as Minister of Communication
Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson would also present a keynote at the event.

NCC, he said, has concluded arrangements for the hosting of
the maiden edition of an annual Telecom Stakeholders Summit in Nigeria.

The summit, slated for Lagos at the Intercontinental Hotel,
Victoria Island, Lagos, on Tuesday, December 17, 2013 with the theme “Transforming
a Nation with Broadband: Telecom as Instrument for Sustainable Development.”

According to him, the summit has been designed to bring
together, different stakeholders of the telecom industry to interact and
discuss issues that affect them from their various perspectives and interests.

“It will comprise a forum, product and services showcase, and
gala nite,” he declared.

In addition, Ojobo affirmed that members of the National
Assembly and top industry chieftains and experts, including service providers
and consumers are expected at the maiden edition of the flagship telecom summit
in Nigeria.

The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, was
quoted as saying the summit will provide veritable platform for interaction and
sharing of ideas across different stakeholders, as well as providing an
opportunity for appraisal of the performance of the industry, while projecting
for the future.

Juwah noted that the summit evolved out of the need to
achieve a more inclusive consultation among the different stakeholders in line
with the consultative approach to the Commission’s regulatory mandate.

Further, Mr. Ojobo, said the summit boasts of full
representation of the key stakeholders in the industry including the consumers,
the government at different levels, the investors, the service providers, the
media, the financial industry and international telecom community.

The summit, as said by him, promises to offer intense
discourse about the industry, it potentials and its direction while also
providing an atmosphere for relaxation and interaction between the diverse
stakeholder segments of the industry,
while sending a signal to the world about our unity of purpose, and huge
potentials that abound in our country.

Monday, December 09, 2013

The Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) has joined the world in mourning the death of former South African president, Nelson Mandela, who died last Thursday in his country, reports ITRealms.

president, Chief Chris Uwaje in his remarks told ITRealms that Mandela represents and demonstrates perhaps, the most complex and greatest software out of Africa that the human mind had ever vision.

He also said that Mandela represents African software ever conceptualized, structurally defined, strategically codified and wholeheartedly delivered for the application and benefit of human progress.

“Madiba is ‘Knowledge Magic’ pure and simple. This is why ISPON mourns his unforgettable demise,” he explained.

Uwaje further emphasised that if man were God, Madiba Nelson Mandela would not have died!

“With his death, the world and indeed the entire humanity have lost an enigmatic knowledge fountain and a colossus in the wilderness of constructive logic,” he said.

During his short span of service to humanity eclipsed by the twenty- seven and a half (27.5) years of unjustified detention at Robin Island jail, he positively touched the lives of many billion people of all races.

ISPON thus, recognizes Madiba as a great reservoir of concentrated knowledge, an embodiment of constructive logic and an unrivaled master-software algorithm. His dynamic leadership attitude radiates a calculus-minded human model, one that only a Software Knowledge Super architect can codify.

Mandela has progressively but efficiently reduced our ignorance of human co-existence and relations and by extension, lightened-up the global pathway in search of Democracy architecture.

Thursday, December 05, 2013

Nelson Mandela was
born on July 18, 1918, in Mveso, Transkei, South Africa. Becoming actively
involved in the anti-apartheid movement in his 20s, Mandela joined the African
National Congress in 1942. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful,
non-violent defiance against the South African government and its racist
policies. In 1993,

Mandela and South African President F.W. de Klerk were
jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to dismantle the
country's apartheid system. In 1994, Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's
first black president. In 2009, Mandela's
birthday (July 18) was declared Mandela Day to promote global
peace and celebrate the South African leader's legacy. Mandela died at his home
in Johannesburg on December 5, 2013, at age 95.

Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela on
July 18, 1918, in the tiny village of Mvezo, on the banks of the Mbashe River
in Transkei, South Africa. "Rolihlahla" in the Xhosa language
literally means "pulling the branch of a tree," but more commonly
translates as "troublemaker."

Nelson Mandela's father, who was destined to
be a chief, served as a counselor to tribal chiefs for several years, but lost
both his title and fortune over a dispute with the local colonial magistrate.
Mandela was only an infant at the time, and his father's loss of status forced
his mother to move the family to Qunu, an even smaller village north of Mvezo.
The village was nestled in a narrow grassy valley; there were no roads, only
foot paths that linked the pastures where livestock grazed. The family lived in
huts and ate a local harvest of maize, sorghum, pumpkin and beans, which was
all they could afford. Water came from springs and streams and cooking was done
outdoors. Mandela played the games of young boys, acting out male
rights-of-passage scenarios with toys he made from the natural materials
available, including tree branches and clay.

At the suggestion of one of his father's
friends, Mandela was baptized in the Methodist Church. He went on to become the
first in his family to attend school. As was custom at the time, and probably
due to the bias of the British educational system in South Africa, Mandela's
teacher told him that his new first name would be Nelson.

When Mandela was 9 years
old, his father died of lung disease, causing his life to change dramatically.
He was adopted by Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the acting regent of the Thembu
people—a gesture done as a favor to Mandela's father, who, years earlier, had
recommended Jongintaba be made chief. Mandela subsequently left the carefree
life he knew in Qunu, fearing that he would never see his village again. He
traveled by motorcar to Mqhekezweni, the provincial capital of Thembuland, to
the chief's royal residence. Though he had not forgotten his beloved village of
Qunu, he quickly adapted to the new, more sophisticated surroundings of
Mqhekezweni.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4DPix: Late Mandela. Courtesy: biography.com

The international Telecommunication
Union (ITU) has selected Sri Lanka as one of the five countries for the
‘Connect a School, Connect a Community’ project,
reports ITRealms.

It was
also gathered by ITRealms that this follows
the completion of a ‘Connect a school, Connect
a Community’ project in Akuressa, the Telecommunications Regulatory
Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) initiated this project with ITU to extend the
scope to cover 33 schools on the entire island.

ITRealms further gathered that this
project was inaugurated Thursday with the opening of the Computer Laboratory of
the Watareka Kanishta Vidyalaya (Primary School), in Homagama, Padukka, Colombo
District, by the Sri Lanka Minister of Education Mr Bandula Gunawardena.

Attended
by Mr Lalith Weeratunga, the Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka and
Chairman of the TRCSL, and Ms Eun-Ju Kim, Director of the ITU Regional Office
for Asia and the Pacific, along with participating school principals and
officials of the Provincial Education Offices, the project would benefit over
8500 students in 33 schools located in areas of low Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) development, while also educating children with
special needs.

The
main objective of the project, ITRealms
learnt is to narrow the digital divide between rural and urban areas and
provide digital opportunities to their communities.

“Transforming
these schools into community ICT centres is expected to help marginalized and
vulnerable groups, such as women, indigenous people, persons with disabilities
and those living in rural, remote and underserved areas, and to empower them to
contribute to their socio-economic development,” officials of ITU told ITRealms.

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

A milestone agreement was recently reached between the
Ministry of Communication Technology (CommTech), the Lagos State Government and
the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) to reduce
Right of Way (RoW) charges by 85 per cent and boost deployment of broadband in
the country, ITRealms
reports.

Confirming this development to ITRealms,
Mrs. Efem Nkanga, the Special Assistant to CommTech Minister, Mrs. Omobola
Johnson, said that this deal would remove constraints to the installation,
rollout and deployment of base stations and fibre optic cable in Lagos State.

ITRealms gathered that the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson
and the Governor of Lagos state, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola with some
officials held a closed door meeting at the State House penultimate
Thursday, to address the issues of taxes, levies, decommissioned sites and
Right of Way (RoW) fees mitigating against quality of service in the state.

It was also gathered that the meeting attracted Governor
Fashola, some key members of ALTON, Mrs. Johnson, Commissioner of Science and
Tech, Mr Biyi Mabadeje, Commissioner of Works, Mr Obafemi Hamzat and officials
from Etisalat, Main One, Airtel, MTN and Globacom, deliberated on the
aforementioned issues.

ALTON members, ITRealms learnt had expressed concerns that
these issues were making it difficult for operators to rollout much needed Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure in the centre of excellence.

Gov. Fashola remarked that good infrastructure rollout and deployment was in
the best interest of residents of Lagos State, making very much needed
infrastructure and capacity available; insisting that it is not the wish of the
State to prevent operators from rolling out.

“We
need you to roll out probably more than you need it. But we do not need it at
the expense of our roads, or lives of the people. Infrastructure must be built
to very high standards, for example, masts must be built with galvanized steel
and not hollow pipes to prevent them from collapsing. You may find that sites
that may have been decommissioned by UFRU probably did not meet these standards
or had not paid up their levies, when badly build sites collapse it is we who
are left to pick up the pieces,” Fashola pointed out.

Although,
ALTON members at the meeting while commending the deal, urged for a
standardised approach for excavating roads where no ducts existed, even as they maintained,
there were no telecoms masts in the state constructed with hollow piles.

“All
telecoms masts in Lagos State are built with galvanized steel,” ALTON official
reiterated.

Responding to ALTON’s position on prohibitive taxes, levies
and right of way fees in Lagos, the Commissioner of Science and Technology for
Lagos, Mr Mabadeje read out an agreement by Lagos State to reduce taxes and
levies in Lagos by over 40 per cent and Right of Way fees were reduced from
N3000 to N500 - a reduction of over 85 per cent.

However, this was on the condition that operators agreed to
use approved and qualified contractors who would ensure the integrity of the
road after the fibre had been installed in the event that there was no fibre
duct on the road.

Operators further agreed with Lagos to a ‘dig once’ policy
whereby the first operator to dig the road for fibre installation would install
a duct with spare capacity for other operators to use when they wanted to
install fibre instead of digging up the road again. Governor Fashola reiterated
that all new roads in Lagos State already have ducts and that the operators
should submit annual infrastructure plans to Lagos State
to allow for proper planning on both sides.

The meeting ended on a high note with ALTON members consenting that this indeed
was a significant step forward and in the right direction.

Mrs.
Johnson applauded Lagos State for leading the charge in removing many of the
barriers and obstacles to telecoms infrastructure deployment in Lagos and
expressed her hope that many other states would follow suit in making telecoms
and broadband infrastructure available to all.